Duty Calls
by Nearing Midnight
Summary: The EPF aimes to delve deeper into Herbert's plans, along with Agent Waddle8438... and her new parter, Agent Skyrus. As patience thins out and tempers snap, their teamwork will be needed most if they are to escape their dangerous mission in one piece...
1. New Partner

**I happened to have a lot of time on my hands, today, so I wrote the first chapter of Duty Calls. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own CP and I don't own Skyrus. Skyrus belongs to my friend.**

**Enjoy my new fic! ;)**

_It had been nearly a week ever since I had fallen into the waters of Shark Bay…_

The elevator whirred softly as I went down to the Command Room.

It wasn't for field-ops now.

This was an emergency.

Just two days ago, the EPF had checked on Herbert and had been shocked to find… nothing at all. For some reason, earlier that day G had called two agents down to the Command Room. I was one, and the other agent was called Skyrus.

I wondered why we had been called. Were we somehow supposed to deal with the fact that Herbert was gone? Were we supposed to partner up for a mission? I hardly even knew who this 'Skyrus' was. Or, were we called for some completely different reason? I sighed wearily as I entered the Command Room.

G was standing in the middle of the Command Room with a light blue penguin in a snowsuit. For some reason she looked vaguely familiar.

"Perfect," G turned around when he saw me. "Agent Waddle8438, this is Agent Skyrus, one of our senior agents. Agent S, you probably already know Agent Waddle; she was the one who discovered Klutzy's hideout. You two will be partners in this mission. Your orders: Go to Shark Bay and check on Klutzy's hideout. If it hasn't flooded due to the Expedition Party, there's a chance that Herbert or Klutzy could be there. If neither one of them are there, search the area. Then come back to report."

I stiffened at the thought of going back to Shark Bay. Skyrus, however, just whipped out her Spy Phone and signalled to G that we were going. In a flash, we were at that shark-infested place.

Skyrus turned to me. "Time for you to take over. Where's Klutzy's hideout, Agent Waddles?"

"It's Waddle…"

"Whatever. You know this place better than me. Where's Klutzy's hideout?"

I bit back a sharp reply and gestured toward the grove of trees. "His hideout is in an underground cave, over there. I found it the last time I came here."

"Good, then let's go." Skyrus responded.

A few minutes later, we were both leaning over the tunnel that led to the cave where Klutzy had his cave. The last time I had come, it had been completely deserted. Now, there were small tracks in the snow beside us.

"Crab tracks." I pointed out to Skyrus. She was already examining the snow where the tracks were.

"The tracks are somewhat fresh, too," Skyrus confirmed. "Looks like Klutzy left his hideout before we came."

"It never hurts to investigate, though. Should we go in?" I asked.

"We'd never fit if we went in together at the same time. I'll go first, and then I'll tell you when I'm through." Skyrus decided. She cautiously lowered herself into the tunnel before I could agree.

_She's acting as if she's mission leader! _ I muttered to myself. Then guilt washed over me. _She __**is**__ a senior agent. Maybe she is mission leader._

"Okay, you can come down now," Skyrus called. I was getting ready to get down after her when something suddenly shoved me from behind. Before I could steady myself and see who unbalanced me, I tumbled into the tunnel in a flurry of feathers. Skyrus just managed to leap out of the way when I landed beak-first in the cave.

"Very dignified." she teased.

_Huh! _I thought. I scrambled to my feet and shoved my shades closer to my eyes so Skyrus wouldn't notice that I was embarrassed. "Something unbalanced me, that's all," I mumbled.

We searched the cave. Everything was the same as it was the last time I had been there, except the strange computer device was gone. In its place was a heap of wires. I went up to them. "Strange…" Skyrus waddled after me and bent down to look at them.

"Computer wires. Seems like a machine was somehow disconnected from the place." Skyrus observed thoughtfully.

"Well, it doesn't matter if they are computer wires or telephone wires or any other wires of the sort. Even though this place isn't flooded, neither Klutzy nor Herbert is here," I replied. "Let's get back up."

Skyrus narrowed her eyes at me. "Sure, getting up will be a good idea, but this time, _you_ go first."

I just shrugged and pulled myself back through the tunnel. When I was half-way through the entrance, I noticed a flash of red near the cliffs that overhung Shark Bay. I froze. _Is that Klutzy?_

I started at the sound of Skyrus' voice. "Are you going to hang there all day, Waddles?" she called.

"It's Waddle," I shouted back down at her. "And no, I'm not going to _hang here all day_. For your information, I'm getting out right now." I got out and Skyrus emerged almost immediately.

"Where should we go now?" she asked.

I thought for a moment. "Well, the last time I was here, I saw Klutzy on that cliff," I answered, pointing towards the huge, snow-covered rocks. "Just now, I also saw something red near those cliffs, too."

"We'd better go then," Skyrus decided. Again that flash of annoyance grew stronger in me and then faded. _She's a senior agent. Remember that, Waddle. _I reminded myself. We set off towards the cliffs.

The one and only fact we didn't know was that the most dangerous villain in Club Penguin was watching us.


	2. Problems, Problems

**Sorry this chapter is short, I just got back from church and I still need to do my Kumon and piano and my billion other chores, so this was written in a hurry.**

**Crazyllamapersonlol: Yeah, Waddle and Skyrus argue a whole lot, but this is just the beginning. Just you wait till the other chapters come out. Hint, hint. ;)**

**LycosTamer: I'll ask my friend tomorrow if you can use Skyrus for The Helpers Underfoot, though she'll probably agree. And expect more cliffhangers. I didn't rate this story as "suspenseful" for nothing…**

**Anyway, here's chapter two!**

We had reached the cliff edge. "This is where I last saw Klutzy," I declared.

Skyrus looked over the edge. "Long way to fall," she stated casually.

I nodded, remembering my own experience.

We had just started searching when Skyrus suddenly hissed, "Agent, you'd better come over."

"What? Why?" I demanded.

"Keep your voice down!" she hissed again, sharper this time. I knew she wasn't fooling me. Agent S had frozen on the spot and was peering around a rock at something hidden from sight. Quietly, I snuck over and when I saw what had put Skyrus in such a shocked state, it took all of my self-control not to scream.

It was Klutzy. He was just sitting there, his back to us, oblivious to the fact that two agents were watching him. I waved my flipper in front of Skyrus' face and when I had gotten her attention, I motioned her to come over. When we were out of earshot of the crab, I exclaimed, "I don't believe it! We found Klutzy!"

Skyrus nodded. "There's just one problem; how do we catch him?"

"Well," I responded thoughtfully, "The last time I was here, I thought I could just grab him. I didn't know he was so quick, though."

"There's the two of us, which should make the catching easier," Skyrus decided. "Once we get him, we can teleport back to the Command Room."

We went back to where Klutzy was sitting. "Agent Skyrus," I whispered. "Here's the plan; you go over to Klutzy and scare him, and then I'll chase him and catch him."

"Got it," Skyrus whispered back. I watched as she carefully climbed the cliff face until she was on a ledge right above the crab. Then, she pushed off the ledge and landed neatly in front of Klutzy, easily scaring him.

He immediately scuttled away from Skyrus and ran as fast as his short legs could carry him…

…right towards me.

I jumped from behind the rock where I was hiding and gave chase. I half-expected Klutzy to run straight into my outstretched arms, but unfortunately I misjudged the crab. He veered away from me and ducked behind the ledge. I couldn't do anything else but follow him.

I stopped dead with astonishment behind the ledge. There was another path! Without thinking, I bolted down after him. Skyrus called in surprise, "Hey, Agent, wait up!"

The narrow cliff path twisted and turned, sometimes breaking into smaller paths no penguin could follow, and all the while leading higher and higher up. Klutzy's small red body darted here and there, and I could only just keep up. I heard pebbles clatter behind me, so I knew Skyrus was following closely.

"Strange," I thought. "This path seems to be getting narrower and narrower…"

Suddenly, the main path ended abruptly. Shocked and confused, I lost my footing, and slipped off the edge of the cliff.

"EEEEEEEEK!"

For a moment I seemed to hang in thin air. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the cold shock once I crashed into the ice…


	3. FIGHT Leads to CAPTURE

**Ebony-Inke-Of-Hearts: You like my stories too? I never expected anybody else other than Crazyllamapersonlol or LycosTamer to actually read my stories. I don't really mind Kumon or piano, but they just take up a lot of time…**

**LycosTamer: I knew it was a cliffhanger. I didn't expect it to be one literally, though. Know what I mean? :3**

**Crazyllamapersonlol: I'm glad you liked the previous chapter. I wrote it so fast, I didn't think anybody would actually like it. **

**Here's chapter 3!**

The moment never came. Because in a flash, Skyrus was there, pulling me back up to safety. When I was half-on the ledge, she let go. I scrabbled the rest of the way up, but as I did so, something pulled me suddenly from behind, nearly making me fall back over. A tree branch had snagged onto my pack and was held fast.

Skyrus rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Waddles. You can be such a klutz sometimes!"

"It's _Waddle_." I muttered. "And I'm no klutz. It's not my fault the tree branch was there!"

Angrily I jerked myself forward. I heard a zipping sound and for a moment I wondered if my pack had ripped. I turned around awkwardly and saw that the tree branch had gotten hold of the zipper of one of the pockets and was opening it.

The pocket where I put my Spy Phone.

With my pack untangled, I quickly turned around, but it was too late. My phone was already dropping.

I noticed something else. A small red figure on top of the ice.

_Klutzy._

Once my phone came within reach, he caught it and immediately scuttled off.

"Oh no!" I cried.

"_Now_ look what you've done," Skyrus spat. "You dropped your own Spy Phone and now Klutzy has gotten hold of it!"

"It's not like I dropped my phone on purpose!" I retorted.

"And Klutzyhas escaped. _Again._" Skyrus continued, as if I hadn't spoken. "If it wasn't for you, we probably would've caught him by now."

Her accusation made me lose my temper.

"This is ridiculous!" I yelled. "All agents make mistakes. I'm sure _you _have made more than a few before G promoted you to senior agent,"

"_I _never made one as silly as _this_," Skyrus snapped back. "I can't believe the EPF would recruit an agent as clumsy as _you_." she added.

Skyrus realized too late that that was the wrong thing to say. I turned around and stormed back down the cliff path.

Soon I reached the grove of trees.

"Hey! Agent Waddles!"

_Oh, please…_ Skyrus must have followed me.

"For the millionth time, my name is _Waddle_!" I hissed. "And I'm going home! This is a mission impossible if I have to work with you! I'm trying to tell you that I made an honest mistake, but you won't even listen."

I stopped by the shore, seething. Skyrus' words drifted back to me; _I can't believe the EPF would recruit an agent as clumsy as you. _

_When I had been recruited, G said I was perfect for the EPF. And now some bossy senior agent has to come and say I was the worst agent they had ever seen,_ I thought. I had never been so mad in my life.

"Agent! Agent Waddle8438!"

I turned around to see no other penguin but Skyrus.

"Oh, so _now_ you get my name right." I responded. "Do you have any idea what you said to me?"

Skyrus looked rather embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Agent. I just wasn't thinking…"

"Well, maybe you _should_ start thinking," I snapped. "Like, about giving up on this entire expedition. Like I said, this is a mission impossible if I have to work with you."

"Come on, Agent. I said I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean for you to take that comment personally." Skyrus tried again to calm me down.

Knowing she was just trying to get me to listen to her again made me even madder.

"You think calling me a klutz and then a clumsy agent won't affect me?" I screamed. "Well, this _clumsy agent_ is going home. I can't work with you. _Now _I understand. It's not the mission that's impossible. It's _you._"

I swiveled around and was totally unprepared for what, or _who,_ I should say, was in front of me.

"Well, well, well," Herbert chuckled. "What have we here?" He eyed me and then Skyrus. "Two little penguins arguing about who 's a better agent. How _cute_."

"Okay, Agent," Skyrus whispered. "Come to me very slowly. Then we'll make a run for it."

I started backing away but froze when Herbert continued.

"Oh, don't run away now, little agents. We have a lot of things we need to discuss." His voice changed from persuasive to menacing and cold.

"And if you don't come with me and tell me the information I need, you will pay for it dearly."


	4. Consequences

**LycosTamer: Well, of course Waddle isn't Klutzy. She just went freako when Skyrus called her a klutz. XD**

**Crazyllamapersonlol: The previous chapter was confusing for you? Where? Please tell me!**

**Ebony-Inke-of-Hearts: No, he won't take their coins XD, he'll just do something worse. I'll leave you to think about it. ;)**

**Now, on with the chapter…**

**Chapter 4**

**Consequences**

"Information? What information?" Skyrus sounded more puzzled then spooked.

"Why, passwords for the EPF's main computer system, of course. It would be _quite_ useful for me, because it controls every single computer and gadget and the other tech thingies you agents have in the EPF," Herbert replied. "I was trying to hack into the system when I found out that two nosey little birds were exploring close by, so I tracked you down."

"How did you find out we were on a mission here?" I asked.

"Klutzy happened to come by, and he brought me this," Herbert grinned as he pulled out a black object from behind his back.

"Hey! My phone!" I gasped in surprise.

"Oh, so it's yours?" The huge polar bear glanced at me. "At first I thought it belonged to your little blue friend here. Klutzy said he found it at the bottom of the cliffs. He also told me that he found out you two were here because he pushed one of you into our hideout. I thank you for lending me your Spy Phone, though you could explain how you control this thing. With great difficulty I also used it to track down the signal of your friend's Spy Phone."

Even though I was in front of Skyrus and couldn't see her, I knew she was glaring at me.

"Now, enough chit-chat. Tell me the password for the EPF's computer system. If you don't, I'll make you!" Herbert threatened.

Skyrus looked indifferent. I knew that she was way more experienced than me, so she probably knew how to keep her beak shut during incidents like this. I was pretty sure she didn't even know the password.

Unfortunately, as a matter of fact, I did. Before I had joined the EPF, I was already pretty much an expert at computers, which was the reason why G told me the pass. I knew that sooner or later Herbert would have me in such fear that I would probably blurt it out.

I started to back away again. Soon I was at Skyrus' side.

"What's the matter? You look like you're going to faint," Skyrus muttered, not looking away from Herbert. "You're not going to take this white hairball's comments seriously, are you? We don't even know the pass."

"You might not know it, but I do!" I whispered back furiously. "I'm afraid he's going to torture me into telling him."

Skyrus let out a long breath. "Oh, dear," she murmured. "If Herbert wants to know the pass this badly, escaping him won't be as easy as I thought…"

"Should we teleport?" I suggested. "After all, _you _still have _your_ phone."

"Not a chance," Skyrus hissed. "He'll see me getting out my phone and he'll probably lock us up in cages or something _and _take away _my_ phone, too."

"What are you birds whispering about?" Herbert demanded. "You need to tell me the pass, or as I said, you will pay."

"Don't worry," Skyrus assured me as she stepped forward to face the polar bear. "I know what I'm doing." In a louder voice, she addressed Herbert. "Why bother ask us? We don't even know the pass."

"If you don't," Herbert countered. "Then why does your pink friend here look so nervous?"

_Skyrus is going to kill me if Herbert sees through her little trick because of me, _I thought.

"Oh, you mean Agent Waddles over there?" Skyrus asked Herbert calmly.

"It's _Waddle_…" I hissed.

"You see, it's her first time on a mission, and she doesn't know you." Skyrus lied, ignoring my comment.

I felt rather offended being called an inexperienced agent when I had been in the EPF for two years, but if Skyrus' lie would allow us to escape Herbert, then I was ready to put up with it.

"Oh, she is, is she?" Herbert glared at Skyrus. "Do you really think I'm going to believe a tale as fake as that?"

Skyrus didn't speak. For the first time that mission she looked nervous and uncertain.

"You _are_ lying!" Herbert bellowed triumphantly at Skyrus. "Don't try to deny it! Your little friend here knows the password, and she's going to tell it to me whether she likes it or not!"

_Oh, no, _I thought, terrified. _Now he's going to torture me until I tell him the pass…_

What Herbert _really _did next completely put me in a state of shock. He grabbed Skyrus and pressed her – _hard _– against the ground with one of his huge paws. Skyrus cried out in surprise but was quickly muffled when Herbert clapped another paw against her beak.

"What in the world are you doing?" I screeched. "Let her go!"

"Don't you worry, my fowl friend, I will." Herbert cooed. His voice again changed to virulent. "When you tell me the password, that is."

He momentarily uncovered Skyrus' mouth to shake his fist menacingly at me.

" Run, Agent!" Skyrus shouted.

"We're supposed to stay together!" I yelled.

"Don't worry about me. Just go and get help or something!"

I had no other choice but flee.

**Sorry if this chapter's short… I have a bad case of writer's block…**


	5. Disappearance

**Crazyllamapersonlol: You mean an Alpha agent? Well, actually, Waddle is an Alpha agent. Check my profile pic. She's all decked up in EPF gear. :3 **

**Skyrus mostly works undercover, so she's just dressed up casually in a magenta snowsuit.**

**LycosTamer: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO UPDATE ONE OF YOUR STORIES? I NEED TO READ THEM! Or are you still testing…**

**Ebony-Inke-of-Hearts: MY NAME'S WADDLE but oh, well, who cares. My writer's block is GONE (:D) so I decided to post a chapter.**

**Jasper Lance: Here's my new chapter!**

**I'm sure that after this final chapter of Duty Calls, you'll be completely trapped in the suspense. :3 And I'm sure you'll all freak. :3**

**Chapter 5**

My mind was whirling so much in my tumult of thoughts next that I barely noticed when Herbert roared at me to come back.

_I nearly fell off the cliffs, lost my Spy Phone, got in a huge argument with Skyrus and now I'm running for my life when I have no idea where in the world I am in Shark Bay,_ I thought. _Could this day get any worse?_

As if it could, it started snowing, gently at first, but eventually huge flurries of freezing cold snow started falling.

_Great. Now I'm probably going to catch a bad cold in this weather, and I'm nowhere near exiting Shark Bay!_

Aloud I muttered, "Darn it, I'm lost! I have to wait till this blizzard is over."

I stopped running and looked around me, trying to spot shelter. More cliffs, even taller than the first ones, towered above me.

_I must be at the far side of Shark Bay,_ I decided. I noticed a long, wide crack cut deep in the rocky face of a cliff. _That would make good shelter. _I ducked into it and sank to the cold, rocky ground. It didn't offer sufficient shelter against the wind, but I was too exhausted to care.

I closed my eyes and the world folded in on me.

"Agent!"

I was jerked back to consciousness at the sound of Skyrus' frightened voice. My eyes flew open.

"What? Agent Skyrus? Where are we? What happened?"

I tried to move and found out I couldn't. I was tied up so tightly that I could barely breathe.

"Agent!" Skyrus cried. "We're in Herbert's hideout. Herbert just came in with you unconscious and he tied you up just a minute ago! _I_ should be the one asking you what happened! Did you pass out or something out there?"

I managed to shift my gaze over to Skyrus. Unlike me, she wasn't tied up, but was instead inside a cage. She was holding on to the bars of her prison and was staring at me, waiting for an answer.

"I - I went to run for help, like you ordered me to," I stammered. "I ended up at the far side of Shark Bay. I went for shelter as soon as the blizzard started, and… well, I don't remember anything else."

"So let me guess," Skyrus sighed. "Nobody in the EPF knows where we are. They've probably set every single tracker and security camera in the Command Room to Shark Bay. Don't you know we've been here for two days already?"

"Two _days_? Seriously?" I demanded.

"Yes, Herbert went searching for you for an entire night. He's pretty desperate to know the pass." Skyrus explained.

"Wow. I actually managed to stay unconscious through all that?"

Just then, we heard a thumping sound coming from the tunnel. Herbert had returned.

"So you're awake, little agent," Herbert smirked, looking right at me. "I was beginning to wonder if I had to fetch an alarm clock to wake you up."

"Knock it off, Herbert," Skyrus snapped. "Leave Agent alone."

"Oh, I'll leave her alone, all right, once she tells me that password. I'm keeping you _both _here until she tells me …"

A quiet rustling cut off what Herbert was about to say. I immediately knew who it was.

_First Herbert and now Klutzy_… I thought.

The bright red crab popped up from behind a small table, waving and clicking as if he wanted Herbert's attention.

"What is it _now_, Klutzy?" Herbert growled.

Klutzy continued clicking. He seemed somewhat serious.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Herbert replied, looking more interested.

Klutzy jumped up and down and waved his pincers in a strange way. I decided that he was trying to make a picture of a computer in the air.

"Huh! You aren't as useless as I thought after all." Herbert seemed pleased.

Klutzy clicked his thanks and scuttled off.

"Okay, penguins," Herbert turned his attention back to us. "If you two won't tell me the password, then I'll hold you for ransom."

"Ransom? Why?" I asked.

"I'll make the EPF tell me that password… or lose two of their agents if they refuse."

"That's crazy!" Skyrus exclaimed. "No one in the Elite Penguin Force will tell you that password, _ever_,"

"What did I just say?" Herbert questioned.

"You said, you would make the EPF tell you the pass-"

"-or lose two of their agents if they refuse," Herbert finished for her. "I'll keep you here until they tell me the password. Most likely it won't take that long…"

"Well, _I'm _sure they would never tell you." I shot back at the polar bear.

"Oh, so you're that sure, little agent?" He glanced at me, contempt in his eyes. "Think again. I'm going to tell them right now. I already installed a computer that will hack its way to the EPF mainframe so I can communicate with your other little penguin friends. But before you start telling them all the information they need to track me down…"

Herbert strode over, brandishing a rope and a piece of cloth. I guessed what he was going to do next and started wriggling once the polar bear had taken hold of me, but I didn't have a thing to eat for twenty-four hours and didn't have the strength to fight, so in a few quick moments Herbert had gagged me.

I glared up at Herbert but couldn't speak.

"And for you, little penguin," Herbert sneered, turning to Skyrus. "If I open that cage door, I risk you running off,"

"If you open this cage door, then I'll run out of this disgusting hideout and once I get help, my partner will be freed so fast you'd think somebody put the rescue on fast mode." Skyrus hissed.

Herbert simply shrugged, undaunted by Skyrus' threats. "It's a risk I'm willing to take." He answered.

In just a couple of minutes Agent Skyrus was tied up and gagged in the same fashion as me, and Herbert sat down at another strange device, muttering something under his breath.

"This will just take a moment, agents," he muttered, picking up the device and scrambling out the entrance.

_As if we would care,_ I thought. The tunnel and the hideout went dark.

All the while, Skyrus had been wriggling and squirming; I could feel her longing to escape from the polar bear. Once I had managed to turn around, I squinted in the blackness and saw that Skyrus was pulling off her ropes and yanking off her gag. Then she started tearing off the ropes that bound me.

"How in the world-" I gasped when I could speak.

"Don't ask," Skyrus replied grimly. "We might have gotten free, but we still have one more task to do."

"What task?"

"You don't know it, but I was one of the agents that went to rescue you, when you fell through the ice in Shark Bay last week. I arrived at the Command Room before you today, and G told me to set up this camera somewhere so we can spy on Herbert," Skyrus told me, pulling a small black gadget out of her pocket.

"Well, we found a perfect place; Herbert's hideout," I answered. In the dim light I could only just make out the gleam of the small device that Skyrus was holding. "The question is, where do we hide this camera?"

I could already hear Skyrus shuffling in the dark, trying to find a place to put the camera. I decided to make myself useful and felt my way to the tunnel entrance. I inched my way upwards; it was easy to get down, but crawling upwards was an entirely different matter, and the fact that it was so dark I couldn't see my own flipper in front of my face did not help, though I eventually got to the entrance to the tunnel.

I had expected Herbert to have put a door of some kind in the entrance, but when I reached up to push it open, all I felt was cold, smooth stone. Confused, I lost my balance and crashed back on the sandy floor below.

"Agent? Is that you?" Skyrus had probably finished setting up the camera.

Slightly winded, I staggered to my feet. "Over here!" I called.

"What in the world are you doing?" Skyrus asked crossly. "You nearly landed on me- again."

"I went up to try to open the hideout door," I replied. "I found out Herbert rolled a stone across the entrance; we can't get out."

"You have to be kidding me," Skyrus gasped.

"I'm not joking," I retorted. "Go see for yourself."

I stood aside as Skyrus hoisted herself up the tunnel. In a few brief moments she scrambled back down, landing neatly next to me.

"You're right," Skyrus conceded. "We're stuck."

"Do you still have your phone?" I asked hopefully. "Herbert took mine; you know it."

Skyrus shook her head. "Herbert cleaned out my pockets and found my phone. He took it away to who-knows-where so neither of us can teleport. Herbert wasn't interested in the security camera, so he left it be, thank goodness."

"Let's see what we have on our backs at the moment. You never know, it could help us." I suggested.

I checked my pockets and found them empty. While I was doing so, Skyrus yanked off my pack.

"If you don't mind I'll be looking through this," she mumbled.

"Find anything useful in your pockets?" I called.

Skyrus looked at me reproachfully and showed me what she had found in the folds of her coat; a rather crumpled up map, an old battery, and a strange silver device.

"What's this?" I demanded, holding up the silver device. "It has the EPF logo on it."

Skyrus shrugged. "I found it while I was setting up the camera. It looks like a tracker of some kind. My guess is that Herbert or Klutzy found it when they ransacked the EPF Command Room."

Skyrus had been bent over my pack on the floor, completely absorbed in sorting through it. When she stretched up to get her items back, I noticed something hanging around her neck.

"What's that?" I asked.

"What's what?" Skyrus sounded irritable. She was again sorting out objects from my pack.

"The thing around your neck."

"Oh, this? That's my Elite Puffle Whistle," Skyrus took it off to show me. "I got it when I first joined the EPF…"

She stopped midsentence, suddenly looking thoughtful. "Of course! My whistle," she murmured, half to herself. "I could use it to call Blast…"

I stared at Skyrus, confused. "What are you talking about? Who's Blast?"

"Blast," Skyrus explained. "Is a red puffle. I trained him to shoot himself out of his cannon to crash through objects, like wood or rock."

I started to see what Skyrus was getting at. "And he could get us out of here-…"

Skyrus was already putting the whistle back around her neck. "Watch this," she replied.

She blew into the whistle, emitting a piercing sound so loud I slapped my flippers over my ears.

"What was _that_ for? You could've made me deaf." I hissed.

"Oh, just be quiet," Skyrus shot back. "And wait."

We sat there for so long I started to wonder if there was some mistake. Then something brushed against my back. I whipped my head around to see a perfectly normal red puffle with a helmet smiling up at me.

"Don't look so shocked." Skyrus sounded amused.

Skyrus motioned to the puffle to come closer, then she pointed up the tunnel. The puffle immediately hopped into a cannon that I didn't notice at first. Then he shot up into the tunnel.

I heard a crash, and then light poured through the tunnel. The entryway was cleared!

"Come on." Skyrus looked satisfied.

"What about Blast?"

"He'll get back by himself. Are you coming or not?"

Skyrus disappeared up the tunnel, with me following.

"At last," Skyrus sighed. "We're out."

"Let's get back," I replied.

* * *

"Agents! You're back and you're safe! What did Herbert do to you!" G looked relieved to see us.

While Skyrus explained what happened I sank down into a chair. I couldn't believe we were back in the Command Room in one piece.

"G?" I asked hesitantly. "What did you say to Herbert? Did you tell him the pass?"

"He didn't. I did." A new voice sounded behind me.

All the agents in the Command Room turned around to face the huge screen in the middle of the Command Room. I had seen the shadowy shape in the screen before. It was the Director!

"Why'd you tell him? We got out by ourselves." Skyrus asked in disbelief.

"I underestimated you. And now I know I made a mistake. Herbert knows the password, and there's no knowing what he will do with that knowledge.

All agents now need to be watchful. Survey the System Defender daily. Check the security cameras. Patrol and keep an eye out for unusual activity. We need to be careful now, agents. Be resourceful. Be remarkable. Be read-…"

The screen exploded into static, cutting off the Director's words.

"What happened-"

G's bewildered voice was abruptly cut off when darkness suddenly shrouded the Command Room.

The shocked silence was interrupted by a sudden , loud crash. A muffled yell and a dull thumping followed. Something shoved my out of my seat and sent me sprawling on the floor.

The lights blinked back on.

The Command Room was a mess. The screen was still static, a security camera knocked out of its wiring, and the chair I was sitting on had been overturned. An agent lay stunned by the table.

I slowly got to my feet and looked around.

Skyrus was gone.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**My first super-long chapter. :D**


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